Headhunter: Redemption

Share.

Hit and miss. Miss and hit. Miss and miss. Hit and hit...

By Ivan Sulic

Jack Wade is your average unnecessarily gruff, tough as nails, unshaven future cop. In his time, high society literally lives above menial laborers and the law is comprised of headhunters -- glorified bounty hunters that make the rules as they go along. Jack might have been a laughably interesting character on his own in the original Headhunter, but 552104.html" target="_blank">Redemption partners him with Leeza X, an underprivileged, disadvantaged youth from deep inside the troubled man's grim past. Together they fight the evil bottom feeders of The Below, unravel a typically gamey plotline, and do things future lawmen (and women) do, like shoot hundreds of bad people in the face and crotch areas.

Take tough characters, throw them against tough enemies, add a little saving of the city / country / planet / universe / multiverse, and you have a magic formula for videogaming success. Unfortunately, some unruly gremlin threw a few monkey wrenches into Headhunter's clockwork cash-in plan. The result is a game that walks a tightrope. To the left lies a nice cushy duvet of warm goodness. To the right, beyond the swirling clouds of Mordor, there sits a bottomless chasm of despair. At any moment Headhunter could topple over, one way or the other.

First, Leeza X needs to be drug into the forest and left at the mercy of wild baboons. It takes a special kind of complete and total moron to really infuriate a gamer just by speaking in an action title. Had I been subjected to listen to another teen angst addled line delivered with all the overly emotional and ironically flat skill only a lobotomized parrot could have done, I'd have freed her from her insane asylum prison and purchased the C-17 cargo ship myself. We're going to Africa, Leeza! Tell me, do you like angry monkeys? It's almost as if no one ever bothered to listen to her completed work, especially as it played against the beer swilling Eastwood imitation that is Mr. Wade. Leeza, please go mute. Embrace self-imposed silence. You'll improve the planet Earth for us all.

Grug?

The dialogue becomes such an annoyance, I found myself forgetting why I was even playing the game. During every inconsequential, uninformative cutscene I either madly giggled at the circus playing out before me or busied myself by desperately trying to conjure up some more powerful form of voodoo to dispatch these clearly evil spirits. Since paying attention to the plot by isn't going to happen, let's focus on the game.

There are times when this third-person shooter works so right that it's plain exhilarating. It's a kind of action that focuses more on drawn-out, dodge and cover gunfights than your typical "let's run in two steps behind the flying bullets and see what happens" game. Both Leeza and Jack stand with a certain kind of royally tough presence in the middle of battle, as if they were in a permanent vogue. It's empowering. The weapons even feel fantastic. Gunshots emit heavy bass as shells click hard and ricochets twang with clarity. Puffs of smoke waft off the burning muzzles of long-fired machineguns, and there is the prerequisite number of exploding pipes and barrels littering the game's many locales. But, just when this warm streak starts to run hot, Headhunter manages to flop on its back like a fish out of water.

Between all the hall fights, opened up skirmishes and quick sprints to cover, there lies a slumbering beast that's never frightened of rearing its nasty head. I call it the, "Me No Control And Looky Monster."

Headhunter uses a setup that's pretty absurd. The left analog stick handles movement, and the right a limited kind of clunking free-look. You can't even just shoot this way, though. Oh no, you must first lock-on a target by holding a button down and haphazardly moving the right analog stick toward the enemy you wish to shoot. Once you've got him, you can fire -- just don't try looking around or moving too much after you've established that precious lock, because that will make the Control And Looky Monster rather sour.

Many hours into the title I still found myself partaking in fights where I'd be admirably handing out the business only to suddenly be spun around and accosted by a damn concrete wall that old Wade or young Leeza decided to run into for no reason. The quick jerks, sudden pans, and heavy reliance on computer automation in place of an old-fashioned point and shoot mechanic really hurt. Then again, this automated shot can actually help.